Creamy sauce based on confit garlic
Preparation of confit garlic
To make the garlic soft and milder than the raw version, it is cooked in oil at a temperature of 80°C. We prefer to do this in the oven, but it also works on the stove.
First, the garlic cloves have to be peeled off… and there are quite a lot 🙂
These then go into an ovenproof jar that is filled with oil until the garlic is covered. If you have an olive oil that is relatively neutral, you can also use 100% olive oil. We always mix our olive oil with neutral rapeseed oil when making confit garlic.
The glass is now placed in the oven, which should be set to 100°C, for about 45 minutes. The exact duration depends on the size of the garlic cloves. You can poke a clove of garlic after 40 minutes and see if it’s soft.
If you have a roasting thermometer, you can check the temperature in between. The oil should be around 80°C and small bubbles should slowly rise. However, it should not boil bubbling under any circumstances!
When the garlic is soft, you can take it out of the oven and use it straight away. It is the basis for our vegan lemon pasta and gives the sauce a great aroma! Also you will be surprised how smooth and creamy the vegan lemon pasta will become!
Special feature in the production of confit garlic
If you don’t process the garlic directly and want to store it for a longer period of time, there are a few things you should keep in mind!
Food that has been boiled down can harbor the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which can lead to food poisoning. If the garlic is not kept in the refrigerator but at room temperature, this can happen in rare cases. The garlic should be chilled quickly when it comes out of the oven and then stored in the fridge.
Also make sure that the glass used and all work utensils are really clean.
Our garlic doesn’t last longer than a few days anyway. If this is the case for you, there is no need to worry!
This is how the vegan lemon pasta with confit garlic is prepared
The vegan lemon pasta comes with just a few ingredients. Once the confit garlic is ready, you can prepare the creamy sauce while the pasta is cooking.
To make the sauce creamy, mash the garlic cloves with a little olive oil (in which the garlic was cooked).
In a pan, stir the pureed garlic with oil, lemon juice and the zest of the lemon zest until smooth. Heat everything over low heat while the macaroni cook in the meantime. To make the sauce for our vegan lemon pasta a little thinner, we add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water and season with salt and pepper.
After draining the macaroni, mix them well with the sauce and sprinkle with some dried chilli flakes. And your creamy vegan lemon pasta is ready!
A little hint
The confit garlic is super versatile and not just a highlight for vegan lemon pasta. It’s best to make a larger glass right away, because you can also just smear a few cloves on toasted bread or add it to mashed potatoes! It is also perfect for dips or salad dressings.
And if you’re getting garlic fever now: We have a few more good vegan recipes with garlic, such as our aioli or the garlic cream soup made from roasted garlic on the blog!
Vegan lemon pasta
Ingredients
Confit Garlic:
- 3 heads of garlic
- 150 ml olive oil
- 100 ml neutral oil
Vegan Lemon Sauce:
- 3 tbsp pureed garlic confit
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp zest of an organic lemon
- Salt
- pepper
- 150 g macaroni
Instructions
Confit Garlic:
- Remove the individual cloves from the garlic bulbs and peel them off.
- Place the garlic cloves in an ovenproof jar and cover with the oil.
- Set the oven to 100°C and place the glass in the oven. Now the garlic should be cooked in the oil for about 45 minutes. If you have a roasting thermometer, you can check the temperature of the oil. It should be about 80°C.
- Small bubbles should form and slowly rise, but the oil shouldn’t be bubbly!
- When the garlic is soft, remove the jar from the oven and let cool.
- If you are not going to process the garlic directly, you should cool it down as soon as possible and then store it in the refrigerator. Take a look at the section “Special features of confit garlic” above.
Vegan Lemon Sauce:
- Set up the macaroni according to the instructions on the packet.
- In a pan, stir the mashed garlic with the oil, lemon juice and zest until smooth and heat over low heat.
- When the macaroni are al dente, set aside some of the cooking water in a small cup and drain the pasta.
- Add 4-5 tablespoons of the cooking water to the sauce in the pan and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
- Add the still hot macaroni and mix well with the sauce.
- We like the pasta topped with some dried chili flakes.
